Female Labor Migration from Okinawa to Central Japan

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Female Labor Migration from Okinawa to Central
Japan
The 4th International Conference on Population
Geographies The University of Hong Kong 10-13
July 2007

• Current Conditions and Future Prospects

Presenter Michiyo Yoshida Setsunan University,
Osaka, Japan
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(1) Study background and concerns

• Main study concern
• What has been the impact of the employment of
  foreign trainees on job opportunities for
  female high school graduates in Okinawa, at
  present and in the future?

Central Japan
Okinawa Prefecture
Figure 1. Migration flow from Okinawa to Central
Japan
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(2)Data collection

• Interviews with staff members of
• a public employment agency
• the labour management section of a textile
  company
• a junior college

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(4) Structure of presentation

• 1. Okinawas labour market
• 2. Ichinomiyas industries
• 3. Methods used to recruit female workers from
  the 1950s to the mid-1980s
• 4. Decline of the work-study programme from the
  late 1980s to the present day

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1. Okinawas labour market
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Figure 2. Unemployment rates in Okinawa and Japan
(1972-2003)
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Females (Okinawa) 21.2
Males (Okinawa) 23.8
Figure 3. Unemployment rate of new high school
graduates by prefecture (2004)
by Takeda, et al. (2007) / Source Gakko Kihon
Chosa
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Figure 7. The number of new graduates who were
employed outside Okinawa (1972-2003)
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2. Ichinomiyas industries
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Location and population of Ichinomiya
Population of Ichinomiya 381,036 (April 2007)
Ichinomiya
Nagoya
Figure 4. Location of Aichi Prefecture
Figure 5. Location of Ichinomiya City
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(2)Industries
Textile and related industries Workers 36
of those of a total of
manufacturing industries Workers 8742 ? 6517
(2001-2003) Factories 2086 ?1660 (2001-2003)
?
AAgriculture, Forestry Fishing, BMining,
CConstruction, DManufacturing, EElectricity,
Gas Water Supply, FCommunication Services,
GTransport, HWholesale Retail Trade,
IFinance Insurance JProperty,
KCafes,Restaurants Hotels, LHealth
Community Services, MEducation, NCombination of
Services, OOther Services
Figure 6. Percentage distribution of employed
people in Ichinomiya and Japan by industry in 2004
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3. Methods used to recruit female workers

• From the 1950s to the mid-1980s

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1954 1972 The administrative young workers
labour migration programme with Junior high
school graduates
Tohuku
1968 - today The work-study programme with high
school graduates
The south-west areas of Kyushu and Okinawa
Figure 7. Source regions of labour migration of
junior high school and high school graduates
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The characteristics of the employment programme
for high school graduates

• A three-year part-time course in junior college
  with full-time work in factories
• Fringe benefits
• ex. Loan for college fees
• Accommodation
• ?The peak of the programme the early 1980s (400
  workers/50 factories)

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4. Decline of the work-study programme

• From the late 1980s to the present day

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(1)Multiple sources of labour force in the 1980s
and 1990s
Foreign Trainees
Japanese-Brazilians
Former Employees
New Graduates
Figure 9. Structure of female labour force in
the textile and related industries in Ichinomiya
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(2) Discontinuation of the work-study programme
in the 2000s
Foreign Trainees
Foreign Trainees
67,343 yen (Japans average of all industries in
2004)
Japanese-Brazilians
149,500 yen (Ichinomiya in 2007)
Former Employees
New Graduates
The number of company participants 1 The number
of new enrolment 15
Figure 10. Change in the structure of female
labour force in the textile and related
industries in Ichinomiya
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The work-study programme in the electric
industries in Ichinomiya

• 2 factories in 2000
• ?
• 0 by 2003

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Conclusion

• Employment opportunities for high school
  graduates in Okinawa after the work-study
  programme Temporary contract work
• ?Fewer chances for upward occupational mobility